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The science of Bach's world revealed by Tafelmusik

J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation, running May 6 to 12, includes microscopic images of musical instrument components.

The formula for old rosin and modern rosin is the same: it’s made from pine tree sap. It coats the horse hairs on bows used with violins and other instruments, and helps to initiate the vibration of the string. (Daniel L. Geiger)

Tafelmusik musician Alison Mackay used an orchestra residency in Leipzig last year to immerse herself in the world of Johann Sebastian Bach. (Gert Mothes)

Toronto luthier, Quentin Playfair was asked to recreate a 1726 cello made in the workshop of Antonio Stradivari and the process recorded for the show. (Sue Dickin)

Malcolm Rose, who makes the brass strings for our harpsichord helped to discover the old way of making strings, analyzing old scraps of strings left on old instruments to discover the proportion of copper and zinc in the brass which would have given Bach’s harpsichord a warm and resonant sound. (Daniel Geiger)

Microscopic images of brass strings. (Daniel Geiger)

Goat gut string. Baroque strings are made of sheep gut; 65-ft. long intestines arrive from the abattoir, are bleached, cut into long strands and spun like wool. They produce a somewhat softer sound than a modern string (made of steel) but the gut produces a very warm blending tone with a higher number of overtones than steel. (Daniel Geiger)

Bach made his own ink. Bach’s ink was called “iron gall ink” and was made of iron sulphate, oak galls (small outgrowths on oak trees — the little balls have high concentrations of tannins), gum arabic, salt and water. The iron sulphate is corroding the paper, eating holes through the pages. (Bach Museum Leipzig Museum)

Quills from raven feathers are cut so that they create a uniform sound when used to pluck the strings inside a harpsichord. (Daniel L. Geiger)

It’s not often that a scientist gets a thank you on a concert program, but Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s newest show owes a lot to microscopist Daniel L. Geiger.

The curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History provided the stunning microscopic images featured in J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation, opening Wednesday.

Modern technology was used to unravel the secrets of music-making in the 18th century, an adventure led by project creator Alison Mackay, who plays double bass in the orchestra. The result is photographs of the components of instruments that can’t be seen by the naked eye.

Mackay, who has created two previous Tafelmusik multimedia productions (TheGalileo Project, about outer space and planets, and House of Dreams, about the visual art that influenced composers) asked herself, “What does it take for a composer like Bach to create, from the moment of inspiration in his study to the first notes of a performance?”

She began with the watermarked paper made 100 kilometres away at a Czech family business, the ink Bach mixed himself and the goat gut used to make a cello string.

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UNIMPLEMENTED COMPONENT - photoslider

UNIMPLEMENTED COMPONENT - photoslider

The project draws on the work of modern instrument-makers who use technology recovered from the 18th century.

The production also includes images and video from Leipzig, Germany, where Bach lived and where Tafelmusik spent two weeks during last year’s Bach Festival.

Bach (1685 to 1750) lived in Leipzig during the last 27 years of his life, at a time when one in 10 citizens was an artisan, Mackay says.

When the introduction of street lighting made it safe for the middle class to venture out at night, Bach and his fellow musicians played regularly in the Zimmerman coffee house, a scene that will be reproduced in the Tafelmusik performance.

Photos, video and Bach’s music — including the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major and Cantata No. 208 (Sheep May Safely Graze) — will combine with narration by actor Richard Greenblatt, stage direction by Marshall Pynkoski and production design by Glenn Davidson.

The program runs May 6 to 10 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, with a May 12 show at the George Weston Recital Hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Go to tafelmusik.org for information.

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